The Dark Half 4K 1993 Ultra HD 2160p

Storyline
When Thad Beaumont was a child, he had an operation to remove a tumor from his brain. During the operation, it was discovered that, far from being a tumor, the growth was a twin brother of Thad's that never developed. Years later, Thad is a successful author, writing his serious books under his own name and his pulp money-makers under the pseudonym "George Stark". When blackmailed by someone who has discovered his secret, Thad publicly "buries" George Stark. From that point on, Thad increasingly becomes the prime suspect in a series of gruesome murders.

User Review

The Dark Half is one of Stephen King's most psychologically intense early novels. The story of how a famous writer begins to be haunted by his materialized alter ego is quite banal. However, in Stephen King's telling, the book takes on an almost philosophical interpretation.

It is quite understandable that George Romero took on the task of adapting the novel for the screen. The fact is that Romero and King had already worked together on “Kaleidoscope of Horror.” I am sure that these two masters knew what to expect from each other and wanted to work together again.

The result of their collaboration was the film. Romero's interpretation is a very simple story in which it is unclear who the killer is until the very end. I agree that the detective storyline could have made the film more appealing to a wider audience.

However, the director leaves out how the writer's doppelganger appeared. In my opinion, this moment is very interesting. It could have been played out very beautifully, both visually and psychologically, even while retaining the detective intrigue.

In fact, another participant in the film, the sparrows, is also left without due attention. In King's book, it is noted that sparrows, acting as psychopomps (conductors of souls to the world of the dead), accompany many events. They are also present in the film, but Romero limits himself to only two or three phrases explaining their appearance. Meanwhile, simply showing the sparrows beautifully could have significantly enhanced the film and added the necessary subtext.

I think it was the director who failed to fully cope with the material. The best example for comparison here is the film “Secret Window” with Johnny Depp. The director presents the rather weak material in such a way that the film is interesting to watch until the very last minutes.

Timothy Hutton's remarkable acting performance is also worth mentioning. One gets the impression that this talented actor could play most of the main characters in Stephen King's films. Michael Rooker contrasts beautifully with him.

Info Video

Codec: HEVC / H.265 (92.6 Mb/s)
Resolution: Native 4K (2160p)
HDR: Dolby Vision, HDR10
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1

Info Audio

#English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
#English: FLAC 2.0
#German: LPCM Audio 2.0

Info Subtitles

English SDH, Arabic, Chinese (Traditional), Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Filipino, French, German, Indonesian, Italian, Korean, Norwegian, Portuguese (Brazilian), Portuguese (Iberian), Spanish (Castilian), Spanish (Latin American), Swedish, Turkish, Thai.